Time rift
- The time rift is a rift in time from the Generation 1 continuity family.
A vortex of swirling destructive energies, the time rift threatens to destroy everything in the years 1989 and 2009 and very probably every other year as well.
Fiction
Marvel Comics UK continuity
When Cyclonus and Scourge travelled back in time via Unicron's time portal, circumventing the usual Limbo substitution process, the result was the formation of a rift in space and time in 2008. This grew until it was large enough to threaten the planet Quintesson, forcing the Quintessons to attempt colonisation of Cybertron. Thwarted by an alliance of Autobots and Decepticons, they scattered as the rift consumed their homeworld. Space Pirates!
Back in 1988, Shockwave had entered into an uneasy alliance with Cyclonus and Scourge, although one that neither side expected to last. When Cyclonus inevitably let slip that they killed and deposed the Shockwave of 2008, it prompted Shockwave to unleash his secret weapon—a brainwashed (clone of) Megatron, who promptly killed Nightstick and Cyclonus, eighteen years before he was created. He didn't even have time to scream, but twenty years in the future, the heavens screamed as the time rift rapidly accelerated its growth. Dry Run!
By New Year's Day 2009, Autobot scientists had discovered that the source of the rift, which was now threatening Cybertron and Earth, was in the year 1989. Rodimus Prime led a team of Autobots back to that time period to try and seal the rift, followed by Soundwave and the Terrorcons looking for revenge. Upon arrival they were thrust into conflict with the contemporary Autobots and Decepticons until the Limbo-displaced Optimus Prime contacted them through the Matrix and explained the cause of the rift. The Autobots and Decepticons of both time periods formed an alliance to return the rogue Decepticons to their own time.
By now, Scourge had allied himself again with the future Decepticon leader Galvatron and was fighting against the united forces of the Wreckers and the Mayhem Attack Squad, when Springer managed to convince him that the time rift threatening everyone was something to do with him and Cyclonus. The Wreckers and Mayhems retreated and Scourge and Fracas broke off from the fight to retrieve Cyclonus's remains from Fortress Sinister, where Shockwave promptly blasted him for his troubles.
With the rift now threatening present-day Earth as well, the Autobot-Decepticon alliance arrived to bolster the Wreckers and Mayhems against Galvatron and the Megatron clone, but were unsuccessful in stopping the future Decepticon. Unable to stand idle any longer, Optimus Prime propelled himself back from Limbo using the power of the Matrix and confronted Galvatron directly, which again rapidly accelerated the time rift's growth.
Outside Fortress Sinister, Ravage encountered the injured Scourge who convinced him that Cyclonus was the key to sealing the rift. Scourge left to get the future Autobots to send him back to the future, while Ravage entered the Decepticon base to try and persuade Shockwave that it was logical to give up his grisly Cyclonus wall-hanging.
Growing larger and more powerful by the second, the rift began to tear Galvatron apart even as he howled defiance in the face of it, until it had completely consumed him. Scourge then arrived to throw himself into its maw, but the day was ultimately saved by Shockwave who, in space-gun mode, flew in with Cyclonus's body and sealed the rift once and for all. Time Wars
Notes
- The effects of the time rift don't quite end there. When we see Rodimus and company return to their own time in "Aspects of Evil!", they return to an alternate future where Galvatron never time-travelled at all, but conquered Cybertron instead.
